Iraq Oil Report

Plus:
*Internal pipeline explosion affects fuel
*Saddam-era deals with China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia likely to move
*Turkish overtures to Baghdad and Erbil
*Crackdown on smuggling and control of gas stations
*Much, much more…

Iraq oil sales earned $500 million more in March than February because of increased oil prices, despite a slight drop in exports, Oil Ministry data shows.

The average price Iraq oil fetched last month was $95.02 per barrel, up from $89.79 per barrel in February, both below average global prices, which were more than $100 per barrel. Iraq earned $5.6 billion from oil sales in March, Ben Lando reports for United Press International.

According to the U.S. State Department’s Iraq Weekly Status Report, Iraq has brought in $19.4 billion this year through April 20, about half what it earned in all of 2007. This was somewhat offset by a drop in exports by 18,000 barrels per day to nearly 1.92 million bpd last month. Iraq is still at a higher steady export and total production rate than much of the post-2003 timeframe of less than 2 million bpd.

An explosion on a fuel pipeline south of Baghdad on Friday caused a large fire and wounded eight guards, police said, Reuters reports. The pipeline carrying fuel south from Baghdad’s large Doura oil refinery was attacked by a bomb near the town of Iskandariya south of the capital, police said.

Alive in Baghdad provides stunning video and interviews from the Doura refinery.

Iraq is likely to honor oil exploration and production deals signed by Saddam Hussein with ONGC, CNPC, Pertamina and PetroVietnam, following meetings last week in Amman, Jordan, UPI reports. This follows conflicting information from the ministry, which earlier this week said all pre-2003 oil deals were considered canceled and the fields and exploration blocks would all be put to an open bidding process.

The Iraqi government on Sunday announced plans to crack down on militiamen controlling gas stations and oil distribution in a new move to curb the resources of armed groups, Sameer N. Yacoub reports for the AP. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given instructions to ban the interference or presence of any unofficial people at state-run and private gas stations, refineries and oil distribution centers, according to a government statement.

The unidentified speedboat fails to respond to warnings as it races toward Iraq’s vital oil terminal in the Persian Gulf. A young Iraqi marine radios to the vessel, warning it to turn away: “I will be required to use deadly force.” This confrontation is just a drill — an effort by American, British and Australian officers to prepare Iraq’s tiny navy to defend its waters and the country’s major oil exporting facilities.
But the day when Iraq alone can defend its shores — and protect its critical offshore oil installations — seems remote, Barbara Surk reports for the AP.

Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Güler had talks with Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani earlier this week in which the two also discussed the absence of Turkey’s national oil company among 35 companies approved earlier this month by the Oil Ministry to bid for soon-to-be announced tenders to develop Iraqi oil and gas fields, Today’s Zaman reports.

The Kurdistan Regional Government is seeking to attract private finance to add 1,300MW of power generation capacity by 2015 in an effort to meet growing demand. It is planning to add 500MW from thermal power, another 500MW from hydropower and 300MW from gas-fired plants, Karin Maree reports for the Middle East Economic Digest. The plans are in addition to a series of existing projects to add at least 1,650MW of capacity over the next 12 months. The latest schemes could cost several billion dollars in total, with the hydropower plants alone costing up to $1.5bn.

President Masoud Barzani yesterday met Mr David Miliband, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, to discuss political progress in Iraq, relations with Turkey and Article 140 of the Constitution, according to a KRG release.

The Turkish National Security Council implicitly confirmed recent indications of a shift in Turkish policy towards the Kurds of northern Iraq, in which confrontation and isolation will be replaced by engagement and dialogue, Gareth Jenkins reports for The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor.

Landmines are everywhere in Kurdistan Region. The mines, nearly three for every person in Kurdistan Region, were laid mostly against Kurdish armed movements since the 1960s, more so than at any other time during regional wars over the past three decades, Ako Muhammed reports for the Kurdish Globe. De-mining operations continue but have been slowed due to natural difficulties and lack of military maps of planted mines.

Muqtada al-Sadr is considering setting aside his political ambitions and restarting a full-scale fight against U.S.-led forces, Hamza Hendawi and Qassim Abudul-Zahra report for The Associated Press. A possible breakaway path — described to The Associated Press by Shiite lawmakers and politicians — would represent the ultimate backlash to the Iraqi government’s pressure on al-Sadr to renounce and disband his Shiite militia.

Sadr’s official spokesman, Salih al-Ubaydi, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty analyst Kathleen Ridolfo that he does not expect al-Sadr to order the Imam Al-Mahdi Army to fight government forces.

Iraq’s prime minister said Thursday that all political blocs have agreed to return to the Shiite-led government, Mazin Zahya reports for the AP.

The U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction this week issued a handful of reports, which can be found HERE and HERE.

The Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.

Iraqi marriages are a casualty of war, writes Alexandra Zavis in the Los Angeles Times. The number of divorces has doubled since the conflict began. Sectarian tensions and joblessness are among the reasons.

More than 26 former Ugandan security guards in Iraq have petitioned Parliament over “illegal deductions from their salaries and violation of their rights,” Mary Karugaba and Paul Kiwuuwa report for The New Vision.

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it countless times: Governments and corporations turn to private military contractors because it is more cost-effective than using regular military forces. But is it true?, military affairs analyst David Isenberg writes for UPI in his Dogs of War column.

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